John Booty USC JERSEY

(10) JOHN BOOTY Jersey -Quarterback, 6-3, 195, Jr.*/Sr., Shreveport, LA (Evangel Christian HS)

2006: John Booty, believed to be the first prep football player to graduate a full year early from high school and enroll at a major Division I-A university, enters 2006 spring practice as the top candidate to start at quarterback as a junior in 2006.

2005: Booty was USC's No. 2 quarterback as a sophomore in 2005. Overall in 2005 while appearing in 10 games (all but Notre Dame, Fresno State and Texas), he completed 27-of-42 passes (64.3%) for 327 yards and 3 TDs with 2 interceptions. He threw his first career TD pass while hitting 2-of-5 passes while directing USC in the fourth quarter at Hawaii. Against Arkansas, he was 4-of-9 for 60 yards with a TD, then saw brief action at the end of the Oregon game, but did not throw a pass, and played a snap at Arizona State when Matt Leinart was briefly dinged, but he did not throw a pass. He was 3-of-3 for 27 yards while directing the last series against Arizona, then was 5-of-6 for 71 yards with a 31-yard TD toss (and he threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown) while playing the fourth quarter at Washington. He hit 5-of-6 passes for 69 yards while playing most of the fourth quarter against Washington State, then hit 7-of-10 passes for 86 yards while playing most of the second half against Stanford and played the final 2 series at California, but did not throw a pass. He completed a 5-yard pass and had an interception among his 3 throws while playing most of the fourth quarter against UCLA

2004: Booty was set to be the No. 2 quarterback as a sophomore in 2004. But he suffered a badly bruised right (throwing) elbow in 2004 fall practice, which limited his participation, so he redshirted.

2003: As just a first-year freshman in 2003, Booty emerged as USC's No. 2 quarterback by mid-season. Overall in 2003 while seeing limited backup action in 5 games (Stanford, Notre Dame, Wahsington, Arizona and UCLA), he completed 7-of-14 passes (50.0%) for 90 yards. He broke his left wrist against UCLA, which sidelined him for USC's last 2 games of 2003. He was 1-of-4 for 13 yards against Stanford in his first action as a Trojan, then hit his only pass attempt (a 5-yarder) at Notre Dame, was 3-of-6 for 63 yards at Arizona and 2-of-3 for 9 yards against UCLA.

HIGH SCHOOL: As a junior quarterback in 2002 at Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport (La..), he led his team to the Class 5A state title while throwing for 4,144 yards and 38 touchdowns while earning Student Sports Underclass All-American and Class 5A All-State honors. He also led Evangel Christian to the Class 5A state title as a 2001 sophomore, passing for 4,330 yards and 50 TDs while being named a Student Sports Underclass All-American and Class 5A All-State. As a 2000 freshman, he completed 9-of-11 passes. In his career, he threw for 8,474 yards on 555-of-864 passing (64.2%) with 88 touchdowns and 26 interceptions. Because Louisiana rules allow junior high students to compete on high school teams if the school is a kindergarten-through-12th grade school, he actually played some varsity football for Evangel Christian since the seventh grade.

PERSONAL: He's a sociology major at USC. His father, Johnny, played quarterback at Arkansas, Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State, then coached football at Evangel Christian. His brother, Josh, was a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns who played at LSU for 2 seasons (1999-2000) following a 5-year (1994-98) baseball career as an infielder in the Florida Marlins organization (including 13 games in the majors). Another brother, Abram, was a wide receiver at LSU (1997-1999) and Valdosta State (2001).